Allen vs Amazon

I thought it sounded like a terrible deal for Amazon anyway. They put a huge amount of money into Cafe Society. Allen's movies don't do that well. Woody Allen's been working on smaller and smaller budgets over the years and for pretty good reason. When he made Match Point, I heard he had no money for music and had to make a deal with a company that put out a CD of public domain recordings of Caruso.

That probably had as much to do with Amazon dropping him as anything else. They didn't know what they were doing, they tried to buy themselves respectability and they made a bad deal.

An attorney commented on Woody Allen's $68 million lawsuit against Amazon and didn't think Amazon had a leg to stand on.

From the Washington Post (owned by Amazon founder Bezos):

“’Frustration of purpose’ is a tough argument for Amazon to make because the allegations were already out there when they made the deal,” said Melanie Leslie, dean of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York, emphasizing that she was evaluating the question on legal, not moral, grounds. “It’s hard for the company to say they didn’t realize what would happen — all they could say is that ‘market forces changed.’”

“And,” she added, “that’s just saying you made a bad deal. It’s not grounds for invalidating a contract.”

In Hollywood offices, a debate swirled about what the suit might mean for the larger entertainment community.

...

“If they’re not releasing the movie, they need to pay him out and let him release it elsewhere,” said a senior member of a top management firm, also speaking on condition of anonymity because of the charged nature of the topic. “To not do that sets a very dangerous precedent for the creative community. It means anyone could walk away from a deal without paying because the person is experiencing bad publicity. Where do you draw the line?”

Allen may get $68 million in free money. Dylan and Ronan will be foiled again. On top of that, they're walking around with the image of their Mom in a three-way with Woody Allen and a young (grownup) model seared into their imaginations. While they tremble in impotent rage, those of us who sort of like Allen are just amused.

Nobody likes Amazon. The world is on Woody Allen's side.